Photos: Frankie Cavone

The biggest edition of the Adirondack Independence Music Festival took place this past weekend in at the Charles R. Wood Park in Lake George, NY. The festival hosted some of the biggest names in the jam band scene filling the venue with thousands of fans travelling from all across the northeast and beyond.

Headlining this year’s festival were moe. for two nights and Pigeons Playing Ping Pong with Hayley Jane as an artist at large throughout the three days. ADK Music Festival also featured a wealth of vendors food and presented a family friendly environment all sitting right across the street from the beaches of Lake George. The festival also has two stages keeping the music going non stop for 12 hours.

Local act Sly Fox and the Hustlers kicked off day 1 with pure rock and roll which was followed by funk and hip-hop from The Funky Dawgz. The surprise set of the festival was Joe Samba and his band who made their ADK Music Festival debut getting fans dancing and excited for what was yet to come the rest of the night. Up next was north country legends Lucid who provided sing along opportunities with warm tones making fans from the area feel extra special. Ryan Montbleau and Badfish made their return to the festival both with explosive sets. Finally, it was time for two sets of Pigeons Playing Ping Pong who provided the funk to the highest level setting the tone for the next two days.

With beautiful weather nearly all weekend, day 2 of the festival kicked off with Ghost of Jupiter bringing out the fans early. Rootshock took the stage an hour after making their way back to the area since their performance at Putnam Place in Saratoga Springs this past spring. Bella’s Bartok and West End Blend continued to keep the energy alive which led into a very much anticipated Dogs in a Pile set. Pink Talking Fish was up to bat playing incredible renditions of songs from the repertoires of Phish, Talking Heads and Pink Floyd. White Denim made their debut at ADK Music Fest receiving much buzz leaving up to this year’s festival matching the talents and sounds of an act like The Black Keys but taking more chances with improvisation. moe. headlined day 2 with a stellar two sets with many highlights including a sit-in from Hayley Jane performing Led Zeppelin’s “Ramble On.”

Day 3 kicked off with a brunch time set with Annie in the Water bringing out fans from all over right at the start of the festival. This band is the real deal and one of the more exciting acts to rise in recent times. The Big Takeover brought the dance Party which was followed up by a front to back standout set from Hayley Jane and the Primates who made their way back for the first time since 2019. Due to lightning in the area, Freekbass and the Bump Assembly played only about 10-15 minutes before their high-energy funk music came to an end. The festival opened back up shortly after the postponement with Neighbor taking the stage who brought on Rob Compa and Hayley Jane to juice up the packed out crowd. Next it was time to groove with Lespecial and Dopapod who also made their much anticipated ADK Music Festival Debut. While the rain came back, it did not stop moe. from destroying their sets keeping fans moving and happy.

We spent the summer wishing it away thinking about Adirondack Independence Music Festival and now that it has come and past, we will be continuing to wish the year away for the 2023 edition. This festival gets better and better by the year and keeps on proving that this is one of the best multi-day events in the northeast. Check out photos from the 2022 edition of the festival below:

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